Mississippi Democratic Party

The Mississippi Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the US state of Mississippi. At first, the Democrats strongly supported states' rights and the right to slavery, and it dominated a one-party system in Mississippi until 1948. During the 1940s, the Democratic Party's support for civil rights alienated many conservative Southern Democrats, who formed the "Dixiecrats" during the 1948 election. This party won in much of the American South, including the solidly Democratic state of Mississippi. In 1968, the African-American community of Mississippi was able to vote for the first time, and the Democrats became divided between the liberal "loyalists" and the conservative "regulars". In 1980, Republican Party presidential candidate Ronald Reagan kicked off his campaign in Mississippi, winning over the conservative whites with his "states' rights" speech, and Mississippi became a solid Republican state between 1994 and 1996. By the 2010s, the Democrats had become a minority party in the state, mostly confined to predominantly-black areas and urban areas.